


The Spaces in Between

by jakia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Gen, M/M, time travel made it worse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7394239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakia/pseuds/jakia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe Dameron opens the door to General—no, Princess Leia’s cell, and she sits up off the cot, and says “Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?”</p><p>[Time travel fic. Sequel crew in the original film, with consequences. Goes with the Rey Skywalker theory. Finn/Poe, Han/Leia]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spaces in Between

**Author's Note:**

> I don't need to start another WIP, but the mental image struck me too hard, and before I knew it I had almost 2000 words down. Enjoy.

_0 BBY / The Death Star_

* * *

 

Poe Dameron opens the door to General—no, _Princess_ Leia’s cell, and she sits up off the cot, and says “Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?”

That’s rude, he thinks. He’s never thought of himself as particularly short before, and Finn is no taller than he is. He doesn’t understand the comparison.

Still, though, that isn’t the point. He takes off his helmet. “I’m with the Resi—I’m with the Rebellion,” he catches himself at the last second, correcting his speech. “I’m here to rescue you.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” She smiles. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

The thing is: Finn has been a Stormtrooper most of his life.

He grew up in barracks hearing stories of these moments, of this time, the time when the Rebels invaded the Death Star, rescued the traitorous Princess Leia, and destroyed the Death Star. He knows all about the heroes of the tale, about Han Solo’s cunning, about Luke Skywalker’s bravery, about Leia Organa’s willpower.

 _What a load of bantha poodoo_ , he thinks, watching as Han Solo practically gives away their location to the Empire.

“—everything’s perfectly alright now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, how are you?”

At least Luke looks ashamed of him as well.

And that’s the crazy thing—he’s standing here with _Luke Skywalker_ , before he was the legend, before he became the Jedi Master. Right now he’s a farmboy, and Finn thinks, not unkindly, that he’s probably better with a lightsaber than Luke is right now.

He still can’t believe they managed to convince them to let them come. ‘ _Our friend Rey is on that Death Star—we have to save her!’_ But the old man had believed them, and so here he was, dressed like a Stormtrooper again, standing beside Luke Skywalker while watching Han Solo ruin everything.

 _I would have given you such a hard time about this, Old Man._ Finn thinks fondly, and misses the man in front of him.

“We have approximately 7 and a half minutes before the group they send to check on us gets here,” he tells the pair, and hopes Stormtrooper regulations haven’t changed significantly in the twenty three years before Finn was born.

Luke frowns, but doesn’t complain. “I hope your friend got the Princess out safely.”

“You and me both.”

 

* * *

 

Rey has never found Kylo Ren intimidating: the mask, the breathing apparatus—she never saw what was supposed to be so frightening about it. It was just a mask—there was still a man underneath it.

Standing before Darth Vader, however—

She doesn’t think she’s ever been more terrified in her life.

It’s in the Force, she thinks. Where Kylo Ren doesn’t radiate much of anything, all Rey can sense near Vader is power—specifically, _his_ power, and his ability to destroy her the moment he decides she isn’t worth anything to him.

Kylo Ren looks pathetic in comparison. If he was worried before—that he would never live up to Vader’s legacy—then that inadequacy practically rolls off of him now. She almost feels sorry for him.

…Even Vader’s _breathing_ was going to give her nightmares.

“Grandfather,” Kylo Ren finally spoke. “Grandfather, I cannot believe it’s you.”

The— _man_ , or the machine, stops for a moment, and looks at them both. “I am not old enough to be anyone’s grandfather,” she can hear the amusement in his voice, even though the modulator makes him sound the same as before. “But you are both strong in the Force. Strong enough to be a threat. My master will want to see you both.”

He gestures to the Stormtroopers holding them tightly. “Escort them both to my TIE Fighter at once. I will deal with them after I’ve dealt with Kenobi.”

 

* * *

 

 

It’s a damn shame Finn wasn’t here, Poe thought as he swung across the chasm, with Princess Leia in his arms. He is rather dashing, if he did say so himself.

Apparently, Princess Leia thought so too, as she kissed him briefly as soon as they were across. “That was _amazing_ ,” she smiles, her eyes bright and wide, and, oh no, she is old enough to be his _mother_ , but he can’t say that.

“I don’t even know your name,” she says shyly, tucking a piece loose hair behind her ear.

“I’m gay,” he blurts out. “I mean, I’m Poe. I’m Poe and I’m gay, and we should go.”

She looks disappointed, but she doesn’t argue, and follows him down the hall.

 

* * *

 

 

She could escape. She’s done it before. Surely the Stormtroopers of the past don’t have some magical way to resist a mind trick—if they did, she’d bet the Stormtroopers of her time would still know it.

Ah, but last time she was alone. And this time she has the galaxy’s most obnoxious cousin along for the ride.

“We could escape,” she whispers, low enough that the Stormtroopers can’t hear her but Ren still does. “You don’t really want to be here, do you?”

He grips her hand, tight enough to hurt. “Lord Vader has ordered us to stay here. So we’re staying here.”

She struggles, but he doesn’t let go, so she sits beside him in the small Fighter, and waits for their mutual grandfather to return.

 _He’s just going to make you look even worse by comparison,_ she thinks but doesn’t say. She has a feeling her heard her, anyway.

 

* * *

 

 

The Millennium Falcon is so close, and she has never looked so good.

“We have to hurry,” Han barks to their group, ushering everyone ahead. “We have to leave, _now._ ”

“No!” Finn yells. “Rey is still here! I can sense her—“

“And what about Ben? We can’t leave with Ben!”

“General Kenobi? Is that who you are talking about—“

But the conversation falls short, because there, across the way, is the old man, and he’s fighting _Darth Vader_.

It’s over so fast. They barely exchange blows, and then the old man is _dead_ , and Luke is screaming, Han is grabbing him, and—

 _I’m sorry, Rey._ Finn thinks into the Force, and hopes she can hear him. _I’ll come back for you._

 

* * *

 

 

He doesn’t get to come back for her.

He tries—Force, he tries. But General Dodonna is insistent that no one else fly out, and then they _have_ to blow up the Death Star, and Princess Leia tries to tell him that it _must_ be destroyed for the greater good, and his friend’s sacrifice won’t be made in vain, but—

He doesn’t know how to tell her _she’s not from here she’s not from this time this isn’t fair she should be here I shouldn’t be here Poe shouldn’t be here please help I have to help her._

But it’s too late. Han is _gone_ , just like that (they left that part out of the story, Finn thinks), and Poe and Luke are suiting up to go and destroy that thing, and Rey is _still on it._

“Bring her back, Poe,” Finn tugs at his flight suit, and kisses him. “You’re her only hope. The others, they don’t understand, but _Rey_ —“

Poe kisses him again. “I’ll try.”

It’s the best he can hope for.

 

* * *

 

 

Poe grew up hearing stories about this battle.

Supposedly, only two pilot (Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, two heroes of his) survive this battle. Poe is hoping to save one or two more this time around. He’s not known as the best pilot in the Resistance for nothing: he can outfly with the best of them.

It looks like they might be winning for a little bit, too, but then Vader comes out, and he’s a better pilot than even Poe, and then there’s just the two of them, just Poe and Luke and the Death Star they need to destroy.

Han comes back, shoots at Vader to distract him, but there are _two_ ships making this run this time, and Vader shoots back, and—

Luke Skywalker _dies_ when his ship explodes above the Death Star, and Poe—

Poe takes the shot, and destroys the Death Star.

 

* * *

 

 

Rey is gone.

She’s not—she’s not _dead_. Finn would have felt her death through the Force. But she is gone, erased from time, and it’s like she’ll never be born, and she’ll never exist, just a piece of _almost_ that the Force allowed him to see.

He cries. To his surprise, Princess Leia is crying, too.

“I don’t know why I’m crying,” she tells him, wiping her eyes and handing Finn a handkerchief of his own. “I just—I feel so overwhelmingly _sad._ We won the battle. I should be happy. I _should_ be.” She sniffs and blows her nose. “I just feel so lost right now.”

It suddenly clicks in Finn’s brain.

“Luke—Luke Skywalker, was he one of the causalities?”

She sniffs. “Yeah. Yeah, Luke died.” She _sobs_ then, gross and ugly and _profound_ , a sense of loss that washes over her through the Force that she cannot control. “I don’t know why it hurts so much. I barely knew him.”

That’s why Rey’s gone. Luke’s dead, and so Rey can never be born, and so she can never exist. They’ve fucked up—they’ve fucked up so badly—and Rey and Luke are the ones who have paid the price for it.

He holds his future general as she cries, though, and doesn’t know how to tell her _that was your brother who died up there_.

 

* * *

 

 

After—

After the battle, there is a huge celebration, but they don’t feel like celebrating. Princess Leia can’t stop crying, so it’s General Dodonna who gives Han and Poe a medal.

The entire galaxy feels off, now that Luke is dead and Rey doesn’t exists. It’s like the Force itself is in mourning for its favorite grandson and the wealth of possibilities he presented.

Poe is paler than Finn has ever known him when he sits down beside him on Yavin. “I was born here,” Poe says quietly, his knees tucked under his arms. “Or rather, I will be born here, in two years. If I haven’t already fucked up the galaxy so much that I stop existing—“

“Stop that,” Finn tells him. “Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t do anything.”

“I shouldn’t have been in that battle. Vader should have shot at _me_ , not Luke, and then Rey wouldn’t—“ Poe bites his lips so hard it starts to bleed.

“I don’t want you dead either!”

“Don’t you get it?” Poe screeches, his voice louder than he intends. “Luke Skywalker is _dead,_ and Princess Leia has left the Rebellion, and if we ever get back to our own time there’s still going to be an _Empire_ because _we screwed everything up._ ”

Finn blinks, but doesn’t correct him. “Princess Leia left?”

“Yeah,” Poe sniffs, wiping his eyes. “She left about an hour ago with Han Solo. She said she had to ‘find herself now that Alderaan is gone’.”

“ _Shit_.”

“What—what do we do? Where do we go from here?”

But Finn doesn’t have any answers for him, and neither does the Force.

* * *

 

END

 

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter, if I write it: Finn goes to Dagobah, Kylo Ren tells Vader about Leia and does not get the reaction he was hoping for, the Rebellion is not as fucked as Poe thinks it is, and Leia and Han are conquering Space Vegas.
> 
>  


End file.
